Beyond the End: Part One: Assault
by Locust Boy
Summary: 100,000 years after Mata Nui reformed Spherus Magna, the races of the galaxy have formed a United Galactic Council. Shadow Team, their best operatives, are about to learn just how dangerous the galaxy can be. CANCELLED!
1. Prologue: Wakeup Call

_Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle, nor am I in any way affiliated with the LEGO group. However, the Original Characters (almost every character in this story) were created by, and owned by me. Any likeness to the OCs in this story to persons real or fictitious, living or dead, is strictly coincidental._

_My first fanfic! This is part one of a three-part (possibly four-part?) series. I have part one completely written out, I am just making some last-minute adjustments, and I_ _am writing part two right now. I hope you enjoy this story. Please R&R. More updates are on the way! Now, let us begin, shall we?_

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><p>The buzzer sounded annoyingly loud to Tarvaa's audio receptors. It was early, 0600 by the standard time. Groggily, she reached her hand out of her bed and smacked the power button of her alarm clock.<p>

_Why does it have to be so early today?_ She thought.

Slowly, Tarvaa sat upright, rubbed her mechanical hands on her metal face, and reached for the Kanohi mask on her desk. The mask was a bright orange colour, and was intricately designed to resemble a ribcage, with the spine running down the center of Tarvaa's face and the ribs curving around the sides of her head. Putting it on, a surge of energy and power surged through her, jolting her awake. _Right,_ she thought, _military enlistment, rapid promotions, and… mission on an experimental ship with the team today._

Fully awake and assuming her duty as a military Commander, she walked out of the cramped military quarters. It was time to wake the other team members.

Tarvaa was a Toa, possessing the elemental power of Plasma. Roughly 100,000 standard years ago, on a planet called Spherus Magna, several sentient, primitive species struggled to survive under harsh conditions and numerous wars. These species included the Glatorian and the Agori. Under very strange circumstances, a deity called Mata Nui came to the planet, and carried with him several other, equally sentient species, among them the Matoran, Toa and Turaga. Mata Nui restored Spherus Magna to a life-sustaining state using a powerful Mask of Life, which contained his soul. However, residual energies from the mask would have unpredictable effects on the various life forms on the planet. Essentially, the Agori, Glatorian, Matoran, Toa and Turaga evolved into one species that had elemental powers, the ability to use Kanohi masks, and lost the need to be synthetically created, as the Matoran had. This new species called itself the Toa, simply because they most closely resembled that origin species.

Tarvaa, like most Toa, worshiped Mata Nui as a God, but above all worshiped the Great Beings that had created him. Most Toa technology today was based on that of the Great Beings, and they had created the Matoran species as well, so it was only natural for this reverence to become religion.

Tarvaa walked down the halls of the space station. The facility was in orbit around Nezarra, a planet near the edges of the spatial territory of the United Galactic Council, or UGC. The Toa were one of six space-faring species that made up the governing Council, and Tarvaa had a reputation as "one heck of a leader". She had been sent on hundreds of missions, from stopping insurrections to saving a colony from a horde of alien beasts, always Tarvaa and her strike teams led successful missions. But this war and this new team assembled by the Councillors themselves…. This was something different.

Tarvaa walked past the door marked '2'. Forge could wait. He was always the strong, silent type, but he had a right to be. John Nathaniel Forge was the computer specialist of Shadow Team. A Human, genetically and mechanically enhanced, part of a secret military program called OLYMPIA. OLYMPIA was a symbol for how the species of the galaxy could work together to achieve something. Human scientists worked together with Toa engineers to create the perfect warriors. The Olympians were given high-tech armour, enhanced awareness and mobility, superhuman strength, and elemental powers. Forge was given the power of Lightning, which was why he was the tech expert of the team. He didn't need equipment to hack into a computer, he could just control the electrical signals between the circuits and open a locked door, plant a virus in enemy tactical computers, steal military data, and more. Forge was a wizard, and a deadly fighter.

But Forge had demons, everyone knew that. Tarvaa had read his file before he joined the team. Before contact with the UGC was made, Humanity was at war with an alien race called the Kh'nid. A war that stilled raged today. Forge was about fifteen standard years old when the Kh'nid attacked his homeworld, the colony planet of Haven. Within a few days, the Kh'nid had destroyed most of the planet, scoured it of nearly all its resources, and slaughtered almost the entire population. By the time the Human military arrived, Forge was the only survivor.

Tarvaa knew that Forge had a tough past, but Tarvaa knew she could count on him to show no remorse to the enemy. Forge didn't speak much, but he said enough with his military deeds. He hated the Kh'nid, and he would do anything to stop those monsters.

The Toa walked on through the block, and stopped at the door marked "3". She could hear a low-pitched hum coming from the other side, and a green light was shining through the cracks in the door.

_I could knock,_ thought Tarvaa, _but when has Ahra been that courteous._

Instead, Tarvaa used her Commander Override code to unlock the door, and barged right in.

"I know it's early, but _you_ of all people should be ready to go!" she lightly kicked the sleeping pod of Ahra, the member of Shadow Team that was always looking for action. Something to burn, or something to blow up, whatever. Ahra liked to do damage to the enemy.

The pod's green light dimmed, and opened, revealing the being inside. "Don't you know, Commander? We Bohrok sleep an endless sleep. The Tahnok type, especially!"

The Bohrok, another species originating from the Spherus Magna Lifestorm, were not the friendliest of races. Not that they were evil, or were as destructive as their ancestors, they just had a hard time when they achieved sentience. Shortly after the Toa species had evolved, the Bohrok swarms of Mata Nui, led by the Krana and the swarm queens Cahdok and Gahdok, started a war that became known as the Krana Rebellion. The Toa emerged victorious, the Bahrag were destroyed, and the Krana with them. Now leaderless, the Bohrok were essentially mindless robots awaiting a purpose – so the Toa put them to work as slaves. However, the energies of the Mask of Life endowed a gift to the Bohrok that none could have foreseen. They began to think independently, and they did not appreciate being used as slaves. This led to a war called the Bohrok Revolution, in which the Toa drove the young Bohrok people into space, making them the first species of Spherus Magna to achieve space-travel. The Bohrok migrated to a distant world, and set up a new empire there. Eventually, the Bohrok joined the UGC, although their past followed them, and the Toa and Bohrok still did not get along well.

However, with Tarvaa and Ahra, it was a different story. They had briefly fought beside each other in the Revolution, and eventually Tarvaa helped change the Toa's perspective on the Bohrok. She had essentially saved the entire species from genocide. And Ahra did not forget her involvement in saving his life, never mind his entire species.

"I know it's early," said Tarvaa with a smile, "but we have a mission of high importance today, and we're needed at the briefing room in twenty minutes."

"What's so important about seeing if a new ship can fly in zero gravity? Do we have to make sure the beds are comfy?"

Tarvaa had to smile. She meant business, but Ahra's sarcasm was funny. Sometimes.

"We haven't even been briefed yet, but who knows? We might get to go behind enemy lines. And these days that means action." Tarvaa replied, still with a smile but an all-business attitude. "Now get up, and get ready for briefing."

The Toa of Plasma left the room, closing the door behind her. Just one last stop before hitting the gym for ten minutes: room 4. If the Bohrok and Toa had a bitter relationship, then the Toa and Sarashii viewed each other as poison.

When Mata Nui was exploring the galaxy and observing civilizations on other worlds, he landed on the homeworld of the young race of the Sarashii: small snakelike creatures that lived in hostile conditions in a normally toxic atmosphere. When Mata Nui landed, a Makuta by the name of Ket emerged from within the giant robot and interacted with the primitive people. He helped them develop their technology at an alarming rate, and built for them suits very similar to Rahkshi, possessing strange powers. Eventually, Ket's antidermis flowed into the very planet that the Sarashii called home, and in his honour they named the planet Ket Prime. Over the centuries, the Sarashii modified their suits, designing them for travel to other atmospheres, with more versatile weapons, better neural connectivity, and a wider range of powers.

Tarvaa's job was to accept every member of her team, but the Sarashii worshiped Ket as the Toa worshiped Mata Nui. Yes, they had every right and reason to, but the Toa viewed this as heresy, and religious defiance. The idea that anything good could come from a Makuta was insane. But it wasn't just the Sarashii's religion that Tarvaa was suspicious of. This particular one was a specialist in all areas of combat, and some areas of psychology, assigned to make sure none of the team members lost morale or sanity, but the suit's power…. An elemental ability that deep down, all Toa feared: the power of Shadow.

Tarvaa said nothing as she passed through the door into the Sarashii's quarters. The Bohrok had good relations with the Sarashii, but Tarvaa couldn't hide her suspicion from Kislee.

"Good morning, Commander, did you have a good sleep?"

Kislee, the forth and final member of Shadow Team, was in her environmental pod, her black-and-red suit waiting on the other side of a decontamination chamber. Tarvaa hated the shape of the suit, but Sarashii themselves weren't as bad as Kraata, really.

"Until the buzzer woke me up, yes," Tarvaa answered matter-of-factly.

"Commander," said Kislee, slithering toward the decontamination chamber, "you know that I don't like it when you display racism."

"Sorry," said Tarvaa, "it's not that I don't like Sarashii, but your ideas…"

"Understandable. You were raised to hate us, and now you are told to be friends with us. But holding a grudge will do you no good, Commander." Kislee began the decontamination process.

"Alright, for the sake of the Greater Good, we'll put our differences aside. But only because there are enough wars going around; we don't need to fight you too."

"Commander, the Sarashii do not want another war any more than you do," Kislee said as she entered her Rahkshi-like neurosuit. "But please try to accept the fact that I am on your team, and I'm here to stay. For the Greater Good."

"How was your sleep, Kislee? I hope the lights weren't too bright for you." Ket Prime was a very dark world, and Sarashii were not used to bright light.

"Tonight was not restful, but the lights weren't the problem," said Kislee, speaking through her suit's voice amplifier. "I had bad dreams last night."

"Dreams?" answered Tarvaa, genuinely surprised. "What kind of dreams?"

"Dreams of today, of things that might happen. We were briefed, but when we got to the objective, the job was done."

"What objective? What job?"

"I can't remember, but I remember the face that got there first," said Kislee, standing up in her neurosuit. "He had white eyes, and he hated us for seeing him."

Tarvaa didn't think much of dreams, but this description disturbed her. Tarvaa knew that face. She had seen it before. She had seen it last night…

"Come on, ladies," called Ahra from the hall, "I thought we were in a hurry!" Forge was standing behind Ahra, fully armoured, helmet in hand.

This made Tarvaa jump back to reality. "We were waiting for you to get ready!" answered the Commander.

"Sure you were. Now come on, I had a bad dream last night, and I want to forget it."

"Ahra, may I ask what kind of dream this was?" inquired Kislee.

"A bad one. Someone got all the action before me! And he enjoyed it more than I would have, too." Ahra paused with the mechanical pieces in his face moving, showing a worried expression. "Now come on, I want to find out what we're burning today!" Ahra started towards the meeting room.

Even behind her Kanohi mask, Kislee could see Tarvaa's puzzled expression. Not fear, but Kislee knew that Tarvaa was good at hiding fear. It made her an inspiring leader. But Kislee felt her worry with her. She knew the Commander had the same dream as Ahra… the same dream as her…

"Bad dreams, Commander?" asked Forge, a look of concern on his face.

"Yes," admitted Tarvaa. Forge needed to know. Tarvaa felt sympathy for his past: the surgeries, the experiments… "Really bad dreams, come to think of it."

"Huh, me too," answered Forge, before putting on his helmet and following Ahra down the hall.

"Well, Commander, shall we be briefed?" said Kislee.

Forge's words haunted her. She would regret getting up this morning, she knew it. "We have our orders," she replied, "let's receive our mission."

The two warriors followed their companions through the halls of the space station, all thinking thoughts of cold, hateful eyes that visited their dreams.


	2. Launch

_Hello, everyone!_

_I was planning to release this chapter next Saturday, but seeing as I am ahead of schedule in writing part two, I thought I would give you all a bit of a continuation to what I promise will develop into an exciting sci-fied Bionicle epic! Enjoy!_

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><p>Shadow Team was waiting in the meeting room for direct orders from the High Council, the head of government for the UGC. Forge was silent, unreadable under his full-covering helmet, Kislee was sketching on a notepad that she always kept, Tarvaa was reading from a datapad, and Ahra was getting very impatient.<p>

"Are they trying to teach us another lesson of getting along? I thought that forming this team was enough of a symbol of peace!" Ahra said.

"We all volunteered for this team, and the Council selected us out of over 600 total candidates," Tarvaa answered, somewhat annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah, but I thought that we would be killing some Kh'nid right now, not waiting to hear that we can kill some Kh'nid in and hour or so." Ahra replied.

"Patience, Ahra, we will get orders soon," said Kislee, attempting to calm down the Tahnok. She was the only one who ever tried and succeeded.

"Well, the council can bite my shiny metal..."

"Ahem," a holographic image of five figures appeared, sitting in the seats across the table. "Did you have something to say, Ahra?" said Zalezzia, the Skakdi representative of the High Council.

"Never mind the Bohrok," answered Kislee, "he's just eager to hear our orders." Tarvaa knew that Kislee had a soft spot for Ahra.

"If it is orders you want, then orders you shall receive," answered Leehra, Vortixx representative.

"We are the Shadow of the Council, and we will do as you command," said Tarvaa.

"Then we'll start with the basics," began Eli Gonara, Human representative. "You have all received information that you will be aboard an experimental ship during her maiden voyage today, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir," answered Tarvaa, "and that's the only information we've received."

"Then your patience will not go unrewarded," replied Set, the Bohrok representative. The Kohrak's comment prompted Tarvaa to throw a teasing smile at Ahra, who made an exaggerated sigh.

"First, let us describe the ship in detail to you," said Lorreck, the Sarashii Council member. "She's called the _Titan's Fist_, and she is not only the fastest, most powerful ship we've ever built, she's also the largest vessel in any of the Council Fleets."

"She was a secret, joint-project," continued Eli. "Every species in the Council had a hand in her design, construction, and development. She is also a major leap in our technology, being the first ship in existence to have cloaking technology."

"What? That's impossible! How can you cloak something that big?" cried Ahra, still impatiently waiting for the point of this mission.

"This one does," replied Leehra, "and we intend to put it to good use before the Kh'nid Empire even knows we possess this technology.

This stopped Ahra. "Go on," he purred, his interest peaked.

"Our intelligence has detected a rather large Kh'nid advance fleet making its way to the colony world of Promethia," explained Zalezzia, "and we plan to test the _Titan's_ capabilities by sending it to intercept this fleet."

"I like the way you think, Councillor," said Ahra. "When do we set off?"

"Hold on, forgive me for interrupting," said Tarvaa, "but why would the Kh'nid attack Promethia? There's nothing special there, it's just a farming world. The population hasn't even reached one billion yet!"

"We do not understand the enemy," answered Kislee, "but they do not understand us. They know we inhabit Promethia, but they do not think we have claimed the soil."

"Bloodthirsty locusts," whispered Forge, almost inaudible.

"Excellent observation, Kislee," said Zalezzia, "but motives are our least concern. What matters now is protecting the people of Promethia, and seeing if our technology is as effective against the Kh'nid as we have hoped."

"When do we leave, my lady?" Ahra said, mockingly addressing Zalezzia.

"As soon as possible. There is a transport already waiting for you at the docking bay," answered Lorreck, "oh, and there is one other detail… You will be escorting a very special guest."

Tarvaa already suspected this, but to find out her suspicions were reality! This was something big. Tarvaa hoped Ahra would be happy.

"And who is this guest, may I ask?" Ahra inquired.

"I am." Came a voice from nowhere.

Shadow Team looked around, puzzled. Was there a hologram malfunction? Was it an intercom message?

A figure appeared, as if being seen out of the corner of an eye. The team turned, and sat in awe of the final member of the High Council: Tisias. He was a Toa, and wore the most powerful Kanohi mask known, besides the Mask of Life. The Prophetann, Mask of the Blind, was worn only by the Toa representative of the Council. Tisias was the second bearer of the mask. Its effects were strange beyond compare. Putting it on would rob the wearer of their sight and elemental powers, and enhance their other senses. It was impossible to remove, unless the wearer was dead. It could be used to conceal an object from one's vision, and rob one's sight entirely. It also gave the bearer great wisdom, and strangest of all, the ability to see the future.

The Councillor stared into empty space, and spoke. "Hello, Tarvaa."

The Toa of Plasma lowered her head in respect. "Hello, father."

Tisias smiled behind his mask for a moment, and then regained a serious composure. "Shadow Team, I trust that now you understand the importance of this mission. I will oversee this operation, and you are to accompany me. Should anything go awry, you four are to be my bodyguard. And you are to obey any orders that I give you, until either I release you from my command, or you are unable to carry out my orders. Is that clear?"

Silence. Then, a simple "Yes, sir," from every member of Shadow Team.

"Very well then. Now, if you are ready, shall we set off?"

John was the first to get up. He took Tisias by the hand, and began leading the blind Toa out of the room, then stopped and addressed the holograms sitting at the desk.

"Are we dismissed?" he asked the Council.

They nodded, and then the holograms disappeared.

"Shadow Team," said Tarvaa, "we have our orders, let's move out!"

**XXXXXX**

Shadow Team and Councillor Tisias sat in the surprisingly comfortable transport ship headed for the _Titan's Fist_. Then again, the transport had to be comfortable if it was carrying the most revered Councillor in the UGC.

"Are we there yet?" teased Ahra.

"Ahra, please show some respect for Councillor Tisias, just once." Requested Kislee.

Ahra's response was to shrug and roll his mechanical blue eyes.

A few seconds passed. "We're there, Ahra," said Tisias. "Isn't she the most beautiful ship you've ever seen?"

Shadow Team looked out the transport's windows, and did, indeed, see a massive vessel. It was much larger than the space station the team had spent the night in: over five kilometres long and two kilometers wide. It was sleek, onyx in colour for spatial camouflage, and shaped like a dome with a large series of pillars extending out of the flat side of the dome.

Ahra chuckled. "It looks like a big Jellyfish!"

Tarvaa was puzzled. "Father, pardon me asking, but how is it that you are able to see the _Titan's Fist_? I thought the Prophetann took your sight away."

"Indeed it did, daughter," replied the Councillor, "but that is just another of the _Titan's_ wonders: it has an effect on time and space that allows even me to see it. I am, after all, meant to be her long-term Shipmaster."

It didn't make sense to Tarvaa, but it was enough of an explanation for her.

As the transport got closer to the monumental ship, the team could make out more of the fine details of the vessel. There were defensive and offensive guns on almost every inch of its surface. The underside of the "jellyfish" was dotted with massive towers, making it look like and enormous city in space. There were even vacuum-sealed walkways connecting the towers for personnel to travel through. Each tower seemed to have a different purpose: some looked like giant cannons, some were power generators, and more than a fair share were hangar bays.

"This is impossible," Ahra mocked, "no ship this big can have a cloaking device!"

The transport docked in a hangar close to the base of the main tower at the center of the "city", and the group disembarked.

The interior of the ship was sterile white, mimicking some ancient Great Being structures. Everything was smooth, simple, and had an odd rounded feel to it. The halls were immense and impossibly complex. Tarvaa couldn't imagine how the crew could navigate around this ship.

The Councillor and his bodyguards got into an elevator, which carried them directly to the bridge. They were moving at sixty kilometres per hour, and the trip still took about five minutes.

The bridge was a round room, positioned at the top of the dome of the ship, and had a glass ceiling and walls, giving an unparalleled view of space.

"Evee, are all systems at maximum efficiency?" said Tisias.

"Evee? Who's Evee?" inquired Kislee.

A holographic blue sphere appeared in the center of the bridge. "Yes, sir," said the hologram.

"Evee is the ship's AI. She does what the crew can't." answered Tisias. "Speaking of which, Evee, is the crew ready for the scheduled mission?"

"All four thousand, two hundred and ninety-six staff members are present and awaiting your orders, Councillor," replied Evee.

"That's a lot of mouths to feed," said Ahra. "Can Evee make sandwiches?"

The holographic sphere flickered, "Yes, I can."

Tisias ignored the brief exchange. "Shadow Team, I suggest you take your seats and strap yourselves in. This is going to be an... Interesting ride." The team did as he requested, and the Councillor reached for the comm. "All crew members prepare for subspace jump immediately! This is not a drill!"

"Subspace?" Kislee began reading at a computer terminal. "Is that some more experimental technology of the _Titan's Fist_?"

"Yes," answered Evee. "This is the first ship since the time of the Great Beings to use subspace travel. It is the fastest method of space travel known in the galaxy, several hundred times faster than high-grade Kakama drives, although technically speaking; subspace does not use realspace to travel."

"What's that supposed to mean?" said Ahra.

The holographic sphere brightened slightly. "You will soon find out. All personnel are ready for the subspace jump, Shipmaster. Awaiting your command."

"Very good, Evee," said Tisias. "Set the cloaking device to activate by the time we finish the jump. Ready, everyone?"

Evee paused. Finally: "Yes, sir, cloaking device is set."

"On my mark."

"How long with this trip take? I'm sick of waiting," groaned Ahra.

"These coordinates say our destination is roughly 50,000 light years away," replied Tarvaa, analyzing a nearby computer.

"Using the subspace jump, we should arrive in… fifteen standard seconds from the start of jump," Evee cheerfully answered.

"Wait, what?"

"Mark!"

The entire ship suddenly shot forwards, city side first, and entered an enormous portal that had appeared from nowhere. The team was nearly thrown out of their seats; if it had not been for the braces that held them down, they would surely have been thrown straight through the glass roof. On the outside of the ship, bright, vibrant colours and randomly placed black stars danced among clouds of white mist. Tarvaa's hands instinctively clutched her mask and held it to her face, while Kislee dug the fingers of her neurosuit into the arms of her chair, and Ahra did the same with his Tahnok claws. Forge simply sat and stared through the glass in awe of the lightshow that was being displayed.

In exactly fifteen seconds, it was over, and the ship dropped to a cruising speed. Shadow Team was stunned.

"Excellent, is everything still operational? Is everyone still here?" Tisias looked to Evee, who replied yes, everything was optimal.

"Very well then," said the Councillor, "cloaking device is active, and we are invisible to all outside eyes. Weapons charged, battle stations! Adjust course to intercept the enemy fleet!"

Evee carried out the Councillor's orders, and Shadow Team looked at a holographic display of the incoming enemy: roughly thirty-five ships in all, from the frigate class to a monstrous Hive Ship. The Kh'nid fleet was headed straight towards the _Titan's Fist_, and they were blissfully unaware that anything was in the area besides themselves. Tarvaa had never been able to see Kh'nid ships when they weren't firing hull-melting torpedoes and heat beams at struggling UGC vessels, and she took the opportunity to do so now gladly. The ships were roughly cylindrical, with several bumps and tubes protruding out at seemingly random places. On the front end of each cylinder was a large, glowing yellow light. This was the main cannon, which fired a devastating beam of heat that could shear most ships in half. On the rear side were several smaller lights, which Tarvaa assumed to be the engines. No other tactical details were of use, except one detail that screamed 'alien' to every beholder on the _Titan's Fist_: the Kh'nid ships were organic. They were literally giant, weapon-equipped, space-faring Hives that were made of similar stuff as a Sarashii's skin.

"Steady, everybody, hold your fire…." Tisias sat back in his seat. The entire city-ship was dead silent. A Hoto bug could have crawled across the ship's floor, and everyone would have heard it.

The silence was not out of fear, or hesitation. It was anticipation that finally, the struggling side of this war might strike some fear into the minds of these heartless insects. The Kh'nid might realize that their war was meaningless.

Shadow Team manned defensive turrets around the bridge. Everyone was ready to show these bugs what they were made of.

They would never get the chance.


	3. Contact

_Once again, I uploaded this chapter early. I just couldn't stand making you guys wait when the action is about to start! Enjoy!_

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><p>"Hold…. Nobody do anything until we can get a clear shot at that Hive Ship." High Councillor Tisias was unreadable behind the Prophetann, which concealed his entire face. It was an opaque, solid block of silver Protodermis that hid his visage, forming a wall between him and the world.<p>

"Is anyone else feeling a little uncomfortable going into battle with a blind Shipmaster?" said Ahra, only to break the silence.

Tarvaa, along with the rest of Shadow Team, watched as the smaller frigate-class ships of the Kh'nid fleet passed by on the other side of the glass ceiling. "Father," Tarvaa asked, "does the cloaking device hide just our visual appearance, or does it conceal our imprint on scanners and radar? Can the Kh'nid possibly detect us?"

"All precautions were taken," answered Tisias. "The ship is under a class six Huna invisibility cloak, all heat is being transferred to weapons power, we are using Gravity propulsion; we are not radiating any heat, and there is a field around us that is hiding our movement and radar imprint. To any method of finding something we know of, we are invisible."

The _Titan's Fist_ crept closer to the capital Hive Ship. The organic alien vessel was massive, but the two kilometer long cylinder was still dwarfed by the UGC Dreadnought.

Silence. No movement, no sound, and the Kh'nid fleet drifted all around them, completely oblivious.

"Subspace portal detected," said Evee.

"Subspace? You mean something else just made that crazy trip? Are we getting reinforcements?" Ahra was glancing around, somewhat confused.

"I wasn't expecting any for this deployment." Tisias sounded genuinely surprised. "All other ships mounted with subspace technology are still under construction. Evee, can you identify where the subspace portal occurred?"

"Details on the anomaly are the following: subspace jump exit point, meaning a ship just arrived. The portal was small, so it's a small ship, likely corvette-class. Anomaly occurred within this fleet. Further details are unavailable."

Tarvaa was feeling a pang of fear in her gut, but she couldn't show it. She was the Commander. "Evee, can you detect where the ship is right now?"

"The unknown vessel is within the fleet. I am unable to tell exactly where, or even what it is exactly. It is possible that it has a cloaking device."

"I'm not good at shooting things that I can't see," said Ahra, trying to lighten the mood. Even he had a touch of worry in his voice.

Kislee called, "Maybe it's not Kh'nid. It could be a new species that we have not encountered. This may be our first contact with them."

"Orders, sir?" Evee asked. The holographic sphere that represented her had shrunk in size somewhat, and had shifted to a slightly darker colour.

Tisias was frozen. Something was clearly troubling him. "The dream…" he whispered, so low that only Kislee heard him. Then, he called "Get us out of this fleet, but don't flee the area. Just keep us out of ramming distance!"

"Sir," replied Evee, "that would be violating our mission objective."

"Don't ask questions, just do it! Get us away from these aliens!"

"Yes, sir. Adjusting coordinates. Accelerating. Shipmaster, we are out of the fleet's ramming distance. Awaiting further coordinates."

"Just keep watching the fleet. Keep your distance, and monitor exactly what's going on in there…."

Evee did as instructed. The holographic display indicated nothing unusual. The _Titan's Fist_ was well out of reach of the boundaries of the Hive Fleet. The Kh'nid just kept on cruising, all moving in the same direction, at the same speed. They seemed to think that nothing was out of the ordinary. The entire crew of the _Titan's Fist_ was getting nervous, but on the bridge, things were tense. Everyone seemed to know that something was wrong. Their suspicions were well justified.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a tiny, lightning fast ship of strange design appeared right beside the _Titan's_ bridge. Shadow Team could not see much, but they didn't need to. They had already seen that ship. A black dart roughly the size of a small tower. The thing had six silver wings on its backside, and two rows of silver protrusions along the sides that reminded Tarvaa of a ribcage. The strange ship soared past the _Titan's Fist_, and shot a white line of light from the tip of the dart, hitting a Kh'nid ship of equal size to the corvette. The organic vessel immediately disintegrated. Before the rest of the fleet could react, hundreds of shining missiles and torpedoes that seemed to be made of pure energy launched from every inch of the dart's surface, carving several more Kh'nid corvettes and frigates to pieces.

This got the attention of the rest of the fleet, and the Kh'nid responded with a swarm of glowing orange torpedoes composed of liquid metal. The alien projectiles homed in on the impossibly fast craft, and they all missed their mark, cooling back to a solid state in the vacuum of space. The smaller, more maneuverable of the Kh'nid ships changed course and sped up to a dogfighting speed. They continued to launch their torpedoes and fired their main cannons, each projecting a beam of yellow light. The dart's shields simply shrugged off the powerful cannons, and dropped a few floating balls of red light. When the Kh'nid ships closed in on the dart, the red lights exploded into flickering black and red spheres which engulfed the corvette-class Kh'nid vessels. As soon as they came, the devastating fields vanished, and the black and silver dart launched itself right between a group of frigates.

It seemed to be shifting into a broadside battle, but the Kh'nid cylinders were far too big and too clumsy to hit the dart. It shot past them like a bullet, and left a trail of the red lights behind it. The black and red fields returned, merging when they contacted each other. When they touched the frigates, the organic matter that formed them disappeared, and the frigates appeared to be pulled towards the round fields. Tarvaa understood what the giant black and red balls were, however impossible it could be.

"That thing is dropping black holes!" she cried. As soon as the frigates were sucked into the fields of destruction, the black holes vanished, leaving no trace that anything had happened.

The dart arced around the massive Kh'nid starships, and effortlessly dodged most of the bug's countermeasures. Those that hit the devastating corvette were simply blocked by its shields. Kh'nid don't know how to give up, so they simply kept trying to melt the dart with heat rays and liquid metal. But those were dead Christmas lights compared to the blinding stars of the sleek dart's torpedoes and black hole bombs. Several other weapons were used by the new ship as well. Blue beams of energy that cut the organic tubes in half, bolts of electricity that cooked the fleshy vessels, and the dart's devastating main cannon, which disintegrated even a massive Kh'nid Dreadnought with a single shot. And through the entire event, the _Titan's Fist_ simply sat and watched in horror, invisible as this tiny ship did what they were sent there to do.

Finally, only the gargantuan Hive Ship remained. It had already been scarred by the occasional blast from the corvette, and damaged by friendly fire that had missed the dart. Whoever was piloting the bullet-like corvette had guts, or was absolutely crazy, because it turned around on a dime, and lined itself up right in front of the Hive Ship's main cannon. Shadow Team watched, petrified with fear, as the heat ray charged up, and shone with the heat of seventy white-hot stars. Seconds away from firing, the bullet-ship pulled off a tactic that would be considered suicide by anyone in the UGC: it fired a shot from its main cannon, and the Kh'nid heat ray exploded, leaving a gaping hole in the front of the Hive Ship. Within a second, the dart plunged right through the hole and into the Hive Ship. Shadow Team couldn't see what exactly the corvette was doing, but it was clear that the Hive Ship was not going to walk away from this. White-hot explosions erupted from inside, starship-carving beams cut long gashes through the organic hull, and more black holes emerged, pulling the few pieces that were left of the Hive Ship into oblivion.

Finally, the Hive Ship was gone, either sucked out of existence or pulverized to dust, the organic alien fleet of locusts was no more. The Kh'nid were a massive galactic superpower, their ships were feared across the known galaxy for their ability to melt right through almost anything the UGC could come up with. It had taken no more than two minutes for the black and silver corvette to annihilate the massive Hive Fleet.

The crew of the _Titan's Fist_ was in shock. Their job had been done for them by a ship that no one even knew existed. But on board the entire ship, none were more fearful of the devastating craft than Shadow Team. Tarvaa, Kislee, Ahra and Forge were all thinking the same thing: their bad dreams had become a real-life nightmare.

"High Councillor Tisias, there is an incoming transmission," said Evee, her holographic ball image somewhat dim and shaky, "originating from the unknown starship."

It took some time for the Toa to break his state of shock. Eventually, he snapped out of it, and declared: "Play the message, Evee."

"Councillor, the message is in the form of text. There is no video or audio recording whatsoever."

Tarvaa felt pity for her father and the Kanohi that was his burden. He couldn't even read.

"Evee, can you read the message aloud to me?" asked Tisias. His voice still sounded shaky.

"Analyzing the message…" the holographic representation shrunk and brightened. "Unknown alien language. Referencing with other known languages…." Suddenly, Evee's sphere grew exponentially and brightened to a significant degree. "Language appears to be similar to records of that of the Great Beings."

"What?" cried Tisias, clearly surprised. "That's a dead language. No one has spoken it in almost 75,000 years!"

"It's no wonder that ship's technology is so advanced," Tarvaa stated, "Whoever built it must have known the Great Beings."

"Almost all of the UGC's technology is based off of that of the Great Beings," continued Kislee, "they left entire cities behind on some worlds! The last known Great Being died almost 75,000 years ago on Spherus Magna. No one alive today even knows what he looked like!"

"I'll bet he does," Ahra said grimly, indicating the corvette. "I'd hate to meet him."

"Cold, white, hateful eyes," Forge whispered, "eyes in the dark."

"I have translated the message to the best of my ability, High Councillor," Evee stated, apparently not listening to Shadow Team's observations. "Shall I read the message to you, Shipmaster Tisias?"

Tisias still seemed scared out of his wits. Kislee still did not share what she had heard him say earlier. "Go ahead, Evee."

"Message reads as follows: _I know you are there, and you know that my ship is just as good as yours. Before I engage you, I would like to know who you are. I would hate to destroy someone that did not deserve destruction_."

Tisias took this in a moment. Then he said: "Evee, reply with a message in the galactic standard language reading the following: _Unidentified alien race, we are the Dreadnought-class warship _Titan's Fist_. We represent the United Galactic Council, and we wish no conflict between our two governments or military. We are willing to accept your race into our society. The only condition is that you do not open fire on us when we reveal ourselves. Do you understand, unidentified alien race?_ End message."

The holographic sphere flickered for a moment. "Message sent, Shipmaster."

The bridge waited anxiously for the reply. Finally, Evee said, "Reply received, Shipmaster. This message is oddly also in the Galactic Standard language."

Tisias looked shaken again. "Read the message, Evee."

"_I will not agree to anything until I know what you look like. If you refuse, know that I am aware of your exact position, and will destroy you anyways_."

Tisias seemed to take this as a shock. Ahra, as always, tried to lighten the mood. "Strange request. Don't let him see Forge, we might scare him off." This earned him a glare from Kislee, but Forge didn't seem to mind. He was too lost in his head, thinking who knows what.

A thought hit Tarvaa. "Father, you said that all precautions were taken with the cloaking device to ensure that nothing could detect us with known methods. Is it possible that this thing could be using an unknown method?"

Tisias was still petrified, but he gave an answer: "It's possible, yes."

"Hold on," said Evee, already scanning for energy signatures, "Shipmaster, I am detecting a large Psionic field originating from the unknown corvette-class starship."

"Psionics," said Kislee, analyzing the information, "that was definitely more than a dream."

"Shadow Four? Please repeat," said Evee.

"Dismiss that comment, Evee," Tarvaa replied. "Personal matters."

"Understood. Shipmaster, I am awaiting your orders."

Tisias had been deep in thought the entire time. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," he whispered. "Evee, send a reply message reading the following: _Both of us oppose the Kh'nid, as you have just demonstrated. An alliance between our nations will be greatly beneficial for both of us. I ask again that you do not fire upon us when we disable our cloak_."

Time passed. But time was frozen for the people in the bridge of the _Titan's Fist_.

"No response, Shipmaster," Evee reported, "I assume that the last response still stands."

Tisias still seemed troubled, but Kislee could see that he was starting to regain his composure. She wished she could say the same for the rest of them. "Evee, tell the cloaking engineers to disable the cloak," the Councillor finally said.

"Yes, Shipmaster." The sphere vanished.

From inside the _Titan's Fist_, there was no change. But from outside, in space, a massive floating black city materialized bit by bit, like a computer image being drawn pixel by pixel. Tarvaa could only imagine it, but she pictured an awe-inspiring sight for their mysterious and deadly beholder. She hoped that it would knock some sense into him, her, or them.

She was wrong.

A blinding white flash filled the eyes of everyone aboard the Titan's Fist, and a great earthquake seemed to shake the ship. Shadow Team was knocked to the floor, and Tisias was thrown across the bridge. The crew's sight returned before their other senses, and soon a series of rumbling and pounding hit the ship. When it passed, Tisias shakily stood up, bracing himself against anything he could put his hands on.

"What just happened?" Tarvaa shouted, a dull ringing noise filling her audio receptors.

Evee's holographic sphere returned. "Unknown starship has engaged us. All able crew are initializing countermeasures."

"Evee," Tisias called, looking around the ship that he could supposedly see, "damage report!"

"Gravity Propulsion engines are operating and 30%. Shields commencing recharge cycle. Hull damage is extensive. Evacuating all personnel from sectors B2, D1 and F6. Several weapons systems are critically damaged. Total weapon capacity is at 70%. Several crew members have been critically injured and 142 staff are declared KIA."

"That thing hit us hard," Ahra said, "fighting always did come to having a bigger stick than the other guy."

Something in what Ahra said gave Tarvaa an idea. "He may have a bigger stick than us," Tarvaa declared, "but we have a heck of a lot more sticks than him. Forge, can you hack the computers here to give us control of some of the ship's guns?"

Forge barely needed to think. "Yes, Commander."

"Do it," Tarvaa ordered, "Shadow Team, we're going to take command of the _Titan's_ defensive and offensive batteries. Father, get all your non-military personnel to safety. Anyone able to man a gun or fly a fighter, send them there. We need all our weapons if we're getting out of here in one piece!"

The High Councillor was too stunned by the attack to argue with his daughter. He shakily gave the command, and soon, every gun and almost every fighter aboard the _Titan's Fist_ was ready to engage the enemy, while the wounded or non-combat crew members were rushed to safe areas within the ship.

Shadow Team followed the Commander's orders. 30% of the Titan's guns might have been destroyed, but there were a heck of a lot of guns left in working order. Combined, they had enough firepower to blow a Kh'nid battle fleet to bits. A single corvette-class starship should have been a piece of cake.

Should have been a piece of cake.

"Alert: enemy is coming for another attack run," Evee warned. "All able personnel are required to operate any offensive and defensive batteries and stations. This is not a drill."

"Ready, Shadow Team," Tarvaa declared, "let's show this alien who they're dealing with!"

The corvette charged closer. Before it came within range of the Titan's guns, it launched hundreds of glowing white missiles at the city-ship. Instantly, it pulled a 180 degree turn within a second, and flew at cruising speed away from the _Titan's Fist_, teasingly out of range of its weapons.

"Incoming missiles, brace for impact," Evee declared.

"How did that thing turn that quickly?" shouted Ahra, "A stunt like that would tear any UGC ships in half!"

"Commander, there's something strange about these missiles." Kislee was always analyzing the fine details that even Tarvaa missed. "They're not showing up on any of the scanners."

"Are they too small to pick up?" Tarvaa questioned.

"The _Titan's_ scanners are designed to be able to pick up a .22 caliber bullet moving at the speed of sound," Tisias shouted, "There's no form of matter that our sensors can't pick up!"

The face of Kislee's Rahkshi-like neurosuit contorted into a confused expression. Truly a rare sight for Kislee. "These missiles aren't made of matter. But then – oh, no."

"What's the problem, Sarashii?" Ahra shouted, "Are we all dead?"

"Not all of us, but the missiles are headed straight for the personnel evac zones!"

That was bad news. Tarvaa had always kept civilian casualties to a minimum on all her previous missions. "Can we stop the missiles, Kislee?"

"I don't know…"

"I've got an idea," Ahra smiled, "blow up the missiles before they hit their target. FIRE!"

Ahra was always trigger-happy, but this plan was the only thing that might have a chance at saving some lives. Thousands of bolts, pulses and beams of low-powered weapons fired from the Titan's thousands of guns to intercept the alien torpedoes. In the blinding fire coming from the guns, it was hard to see whether their plan was succeeding.

They didn't need to see. They could feel it.

Without expectation, several deep rumbles and sounds of explosions erupted from deep below the bridge. The sounds were muffled, but Shadow Team felt the effects nonetheless.

"Damn." Tarvaa didn't want to know, but she had to find out what the situation was. "How many people did we lose, Evee?"

The holographic orb didn't move for what seemed an eternity. When the word came, even Evee sounded horrified: "We have lost one-thousand six hundred and eighty-two more personnel. Artificial atmosphere is leaking. Sectors D42, H52, J66, A41, L38 and B70 have been destroyed. Sealing off all critically damaged sectors."

That was a hard fact for Tarvaa to take in. "That thing hasn't even targeted our main weapons systems yet. Those missiles homed right into where the most people were. Whatever this thing is, it knows how to demoralize its enemy."

Forge had completely frozen. "It's like Haven, all over again."

Kislee kept on analyzing what was happening. The little details, the events that no one had even noticed. But she didn't say a word.

Ahra was shaken. But it's hard to frighten a Bohrok for long. "What are we just sitting around for? That alien just broke a major war crime, and it has to pay!"

Ahra began madly typing commands into the computer nearest to him. He had taken control of half the remaining guns on the _Titan_, and fired wildly at the slowly retreating corvette. Elemental beams, acid bolts, antimatter pulses, and explosive metal slugs were launched out of the guns of many races and technologies, dancing their way towards the alien dart. Most of Ahra's wild shots fell short, being too short-ranged to hit the tiny corvette. Most, but not all.

One shot, a human-designed high-explosive round, landed a direct hit on the corvette. The tiny ship was rocked by the explosion, but seemed otherwise unharmed. The dart's shields had taken the damage.

But it got the corvette's attention.

The black and chrome arrow righted itself, and charged headlong back at the _Titan's Fist_.

"Yeah, come back for more!" Ahra was screaming now. "I'll burn you to cinders!"

The corvette continued to shoot at the _Titan_, firing its own weapons in return fire. But it was getting hard for the thing to aim under the hailstorm of plasma and acid bolts, even if they only hit the shields.

Tarvaa would have to thank Ahra later. He always could ignite the battle-spirit that inspired even the disheartened to fight on. "Follow good Ahra's example, _Titan's Fist_!" She was commanding the whole ship now. "Let's kill this thing!"

Finally, Shadow Team could see the full force of the _Titan's_ firepower. Every gun that could still shoot began firing incessantly at the dart-ship. The alien's own weapons fired back, but most were fired blindly and hit non-essential locations.

"Keep firing!" Tarvaa was doing everything she could to keep her voice calm, her rage boiled down. "Don't give this merciless alien any forgiveness!"

The rain of firepower coming from the _Titan_ was biblical. Thousands upon thousands of turrets, cannons, and batteries were firing a never-ending volley of white-hot destruction in many forms at this one target. And the main cannon had not even fired yet.

Finally, one by one, some of the guns stopped firing.

"What's happening?" Tarvaa demanded.

Tisias was rubbing his hands over three-dimensional statistics of the ship. "Some of the guns are overheating and need to cool down," he explained, "others are running out of ammo, and a few were destroyed by lucky shots from the corvette."

Kislee paused for a moment. "Were they lucky?" she said.

The last thing that anyone wanted came without expectation. Another horror was unleashed from the impossible ship. Thousands of missiles and bolts were launched simultaneously in a shining wave of death. For a moment, it seemed as if the corvette had created a star in the middle of the ship. Then, after a few seconds, the massive Dreadnought was shaken by ten thousand explosions all hitting their marks at the same time. One hundred earthquakes violently jerked the ship around, and threatened to tear it apart. Shadow Team was thrown to the ground again, but Tisias held himself upright with impossible strength. The floor cracked and some of the bridge's computers were unceremoniously thrown around the room.

"Evee," Tisias shouted amid the roaring chaos, "damage report!"

"96% of our weapons have been destroyed. Engines are completely shut down. Hull integrity at 42%. Shields disabled. Fires are spreading through several sectors. Sealing off critically damaged areas. 84 personnel are declared KIA, and climbing."

Ahra struggled to push himself up to his feet. "And the alien?"

"Alien corvette has sustained significant damage to its shields and minimal damage to it's hull thanks to armour-piercing rounds. It is otherwise fully operational."

Ahra coughed and stood up. "How the heck do you stop that thing?"

Before Tarvaa could think anymore, the corvette began pulverizing what was left of the giant skyscrapers of the city-ship with black hole bombs, shining torpedoes and beams of energy that cut the towers from their foundations.

"This thing broke us," High Councillor Tisias murmured, "and we can't even fight back."

Tarvaa couldn't think of any way to stop the alien vessel. It was pounding all that was left of an already dead ship. The situation was hopeless.

"Commander," came a voice that no one expected to hear at this time, "I have an idea."

Tarvaa didn't know what to think besides: _Forge, you are one steely soldier._

"Alright, John,", Tarvaa smiled, "let's hear it."


	4. Tides

Tarvaa stood in the airlock nearest the alien corvette. This was a suicide mission, but the black and silver dart seemed preoccupied with letting its missiles eat away at the carcass of the _Titan's Fist_. Forge's plan was crazy, completely unorthodox, and incredibly risky. But it was the best plan Tarvaa had ever heard in her long life.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked the Human, who was standing beside her in his armour, which was as suitable for extra-vehicular action in space as it was for ground combat on planetary surfaces.

Forge simply looked at Tarvaa and said "What choice do we have?"

Tarvaa smiled, and then concentrated. Her Kanohi mask changed shape, and finally settled into an appearance that encased her full face, had a visor over her eyes, and a large knob that looked like a breathing apparatus over her mouth. She had equipped her Kanohi mask of environmental survivability, a necessary Kanohi for most Toa that travelled off-world, since it allowed them to live in almost any environment comfortably, including low oxygen environments.

Tarvaa's orange and white armour was covered in soot and smoke-marks from the fires that raged across the ship. John's blue and white armour was in a similar condition. But that was what happened in wars: your armour got a little dirty.

"Evee, are you ready?" Tarvaa called.

"Yes, Shadow One," Evee responded. "As soon as you and Shadow Two exit the airlock, I will convert all non-essential power to the main nova cannon. I will fire at your command."

"Excellent." Tarvaa activated the comm. link attached to her Kanohi. "How are things looking from up there, bridge?"

The response came in a few seconds. "We're in severe danger, Commander: you're boring us to death!" Tarvaa smiled. Ahra's sarcasm was the one thing that was genuinely funny to her anymore.

"Though I don't share Ahra's humour, I must agree with his point." Kislee was always a to-the-point person. "The _Titan_ can't take much more of this bombardment, Commander. It's now or never, Tarvaa."

"Good luck to you, Shadow Team," Tisias said, sounding very tired. It had been a long and horrifying day for him. "Get the job done."

"Yes, sir." Tarvaa was ready. This plan would work. It had to work. If it didn't, then the survivors of the _Titan's Fist_ wouldn't survive for long. "Evee, open the airlock."

There was a brief whirring, and the doors leading to space opened, revealing the alien corvette casually launching its devastating energy bolts at the husk that was left of the UGC Dreadnought. The gases in the airlock were sucked out and lost in the vacuum of space, and the force pulled Tarvaa and Forge with it. If it had not been for his Olympian suit or her Kanohi mask, they would have been lost right there.

Tarvaa opened her comm. link to Forge and said "Alright, let's get a little closer to that corvette, shall we?"

The Toa extended her left arm, and the gauntlet attached to it lit up, sending a circular field of plasma two feet around it. A Plasma Shield, upgraded with a Gravity Core. The plasma barrier that formed the bulk of the device was taken from her own elemental energies, while the Gravity Core was a technological attachment. Normally, the core drew incoming projectiles and hazards towards the shield so that Tarvaa didn't need to swing her left arm around as much. Today, she would use it to travel without a vehicle in space.

Tarvaa drew her Plasma Sword from its sheath on her back, and made sure Forge was ready. He had a Human military-grade jet pack and stabilizing jet boots built in to his armour. The engineers at project OLYMPIA had thought of everything, it seemed.

Forge nodded to say he was ready, and Tarvaa extended her left arm towards the alien corvette. Forge followed with gentle bursts from his jetpack.

As the duo got closer to the black and silver starship, they were able to make out a few more details about the vessel. The thing was roughly 150 meters long from head to tail. The tip of the ship had a sort of round bulge and several small glowing red lines and shapes all over the part of the ship that Tarvaa suspected to be the bridge. The silver ribs that protruded from the dart's sides looked more like curved mechanical arms, probably used for landing on a planet's surface. Upon closer inspection, the arms also seemed to be mounted with some sort of gun or missile launcher, but it was impossible to say exactly what kind of weapon it was. There were hundreds of guns mounted all along the sides, the front, and the underbelly of the craft, but they were too alien-looking to compare them to anything Tarvaa had ever seen, and she had seen the galaxy for over 50,000 years.

The dart's six wings were arranged in a six-pointed star formation, and connected directly to the rear edge of the corvette. The entire back end of the dart seemed to be covered with millions of tiny engines, and they were glowing with a fantastic white light now. Even the wings had rows of the engines at their rear edges.

The corvette was firing some of its torpedoes and bombs at the burning ruins of the city-ship. All in all, she thought it was the most beautiful, streamlined ship in the galaxy, and she hated it for the lives it had taken today.

She turned to Forge. "Start powering up your elemental energies now, Forge," she commanded

Forge was something else. In project OLYMPIA, he had been trained as a specialist-class soldier called an adept. He never used a weapon in combat; only his armoured hands and elemental powers.

The Human cupped his hands in front of him. The suit focused his Lightning powers in between his hands, and arcs of electricity began flying and dancing around the Human.

They drifted closer to the corvette.

Tarvaa also began charging her elemental powers, focusing them into her sword. They needed enough time to finish building up their elemental powers. They were stage one of the plan. Stage two was up to Evee.

They drifted closer to the corvette.

Forge's plan was simple and incredibly risky for him and the Commander. Forge and Tarvaa's role was to build up their energies and unleash a Nova Blast on the corvette. The electromagnetic Plasma and the power of Forge's Lightning combined would surely shut down the corvette's shields, and if they were lucky, its weapons and engines, too.

Meanwhile, Evee would transfer all the power she could to the _Titan's_ main cannon, which was even now poised straight at the alien ship. As soon as its shields were down, Evee would fire the cannon, striking with the force of a third Nova Blast, and that would hopefully destroy or disable the corvette. Hopefully.

They drifted closer to the corvette.

"Main cannon charge at 66%." Evee was speaking through the comm. link.

"How close are you, Commander?" Ahra was saying. "The lights are going out. You better be ready!"

Tarvaa glanced at the Heads-Up Display in her Kanohi. "We just need a little more time."

Evee came in again, "Main cannon charge at 70%."

"Just a little more time… A few more seconds…"

"Main cannon charge at 75%."

Ahra was getting impatient as usual. "Commander," he cried over the comm., "you're running out of time. You've got a five-second window and it's closing fast!"

"Just a little longer…"

"Main cannon charge at 80%."

They drifted closer to the corvette. They would be able to touch a part of it soon.

"Main cannon charge at 90%."

"Commander, it's now or never!" Ahra was shouting.

"One more second…" Tarvaa's HUD showed that they had built up sufficient energy. "Forge, Nova Blast, now!"

Forge stabilized himself, thrust his palms out at the dart, and shot a wave of Lightning that looked like it belonged in a hurricane at the corvette. Tarvaa stopped her drift, pointed her sword at the devastating corvette, and a star erupted from her blade, moving quickly towards the corvette.

"Warning," Evee reported, "electromagnetic disturbance detected, sensors failing. Main cannon charge at 96%."

The Nova Blasts obscured anything from view, they were so bright. The other members of Shadow Team could feel the heat of the attacks from the bridge – on the opposite side of the Dreadnought.

Evee made a quick beeping sound. "Main cannon charge at one hundred percent, ready to fire."

The intensity of the two Nova Blasts was threatening to be too much for even Tarvaa and Forge. Their armour's systems were failing, their personal energy shields had been knocked out, and the environmental control of Forge's suit was overtaxing itself. Just a bit more…..

Tarvaa and Forge had given all they had. They were exhausted, but they knew their ordeal wasn't done yet.

"Evee, fire now!" Tarvaa commanded.

Evee made no response. She didn't need to. Even if she had, no one would have heard her, because the _Titan's_ cannon was the only thing falling on anyone's ears.

Tarvaa had heard that no one can hear you scream in space. That must have been true, because she couldn't hear her _own_ screams, only the sudden, thunderous shriek that erupted from the cannon.

An impossibly bright, white beam shot from what was left of the city-ship's main tower. The beam arced across empty space and struck the stunned corvette directly in the side.

Less than half a second had passed. The white beam disappeared, leaving auras in everyone's eyes and ringing in their ears.

"Tarvaa?" Kislee was shouting through the comm. "Forge? Are you alright? Can you hear me?"

Silence.

"Oh crud," Ahra said, genuinely horrified, which came to Kislee as a surprise. "Either we just blew them apart, or the corvette killed them. They're gone…"

More silence.

Tisias was the only one who seemed unaffected by any of the events. He just stared straight ahead in empty space.

Silence.

Wait.

There was a slight crackle over the comm. link. Just static, then it disappeared.

"…Boom."

Ahra and Kislee felt like they had just found a long-lost friend. Which, in a way, they had.

"Ha-ha!" Ahra was roaring with laughter. "Forge, you have seen some crazy things, pal, but that was the craziest thing you have _ever_ done!"

"Forge, is the Commander with you?" Kislee always counted all the variables, but she couldn't hide the relief in her voice.

"Yes," was Tarvaa's response. "I'm all right. A little stunned, but I'm okay. Did the plan work?"

"The sensors are still down," Kislee reported, "we can't see anything from here."

"You're closer than us," Ahra teased, "give us the good news!"

Tarvaa waited for her sight to return. To her, everything still looked green and white. She waited. Her sight cleared, and she could see Forge a few feet away from her. Using her Plasma Shield, she drifted towards him. He was staring right at her. Or his helmet was. She couldn't see his eyes behind the visors of his helmet. Wait. He gave a slight nod, and a thumbs-up. Forge was okay.

Tarvaa looked around the infinity of space. If it had not been for the hulk of the _Titan's Fist_, she would surely be lost. Wait. There were pieces of the UGC Dreadnought floating around the zero-gravity vacuum. Glowing hot wrecks, towers that had been torn apart. Something was out of place. That tower was the wrong colour; it didn't match the rest of the _Titan_.

But it was never meant to.

"Tarvaa to bridge," she reported, "enemy craft appears to be intact, but heavily damaged. Its engines don't look like they're working, and its not shooting. I think this operation was a success!"

Everyone that was left to cheer screamed with joy. They had done it. They had saved the lives of the _Titan's Fist_. Even Evee sounded overjoyed. The pride and relief was short-lived.

"Wait," Tarvaa called. "The corvette's doing something."

"Sensors back online, Commander. We can see from here." Kislee used the ship's situational scanners to locate the downed corvette. And it was, indeed, doing something.

The entire ship was glowing. The glow brightened, and it grew to a shine. The alien dart was shining. Soon, the white light erupting from the sleek black and silver hull completely obscured it from view. Another star was forming. A star with a jagged, solid shape.

Evee sounded confused as she declared, "Unidentified matter is forming around the corvette."

"Matter?" Kislee sounded equally confused, but not surprised. "Evee, can you identify what it is?"

"Scanning…" Evee sounded focused. "Results will take some time."

The light around the ship was incredibly white, and a hundred times as bright as the Nova attack unleashed moments ago. Tarvaa and Forge could only watch in wonder as a distinctly sharp and jagged shape was forming under all the light. Suddenly, space was dark again. The light was gone, but the corvette was still right where it had been before. Only now, it was encased in a shiny, transparent, very rough solid block.

"Scan complete," Evee reported to Kislee, "solid matter has materialized around the alien corvette. Matter is composed of extremely dense carbon."

Kislee read over the results of Evee's scan. She couldn't believe her neurosuit's eyes. "Commander," she reported, "you're not going to believe this. Are you seeing what happened to the corvette?"

"Yes, Kislee," the Commander replied. "It's encased itself in some kind of crystal."

"Not just any crystal." Kislee sounded baffled, and in overall disbelief. "Commander, the corvette just created a block of diamond around itself!"

"Diamond?" Tarvaa was absolutely flabbergasted. "But… That's impossible! Matter creation is not possible without elemental powers, and to create diamond? That's…"

"Incredibly advanced technology," Kislee finished. "Commander, if this is not proof enough, then I don't know what is, but that alien in there knows, or at least knew, the Great Beings."

Tarvaa was stunned. Forge gave no hint of it, but he was just as shocked as the Toa. But Ahra had a different thought in mind.

"Commander," he said, grimly, "you know as well as I do that this isn't over yet. For better or worse, we've already seen it in our dreams. We're boarding that corvette."


	5. Intrusions

_I'm really sorry for the delay, dear readers, but this chapter required a lot of editing, and I've had some trouble writing Part Two at the same time._

_Anyways, it's time for another action-packed chapter! Enjoy, and please PLEASE R&R_

* * *

><p>Shadow Team, in full strength, was standing on an impossible asteroid made of diamond with an alien ship inside it, floating in space. The asteroid's gravity held the elite soldiers on its surface, while their own technologies kept them alive amid the dark vacuum.<p>

High Councillor Tisias had sent a report back the rest of the Council, and evacuation ships were already en route to their destination from Promethia. In a few hours, everyone would be evacuated from the husk of the _Titan's Fist_, and taken for debriefing and a short holiday on the planet of Nezarra.

But the rest and relaxation would have to come after Shadow Team had completed their mission.

"So," Ahra said, clearly unenthusiastic, "how do we break through this billion-Jet shield? Because this part of the dream is kind of fuzzy for me."

"Well," suggested Tarvaa, "can you melt through it, Ahra? Tahnok _were_ originally designed to burn down forests and melt mountains."

Ahra shrugged. "Fire doesn't burn in space, and things tend to cool off pretty fast up here, too."

"Kislee, can Plasma burn through this?" The Toa turned to Kislee. The Sarashii was the scientist of Shadow Team.

"Eventually, it might," was Kislee's answer, "But it would take some time, and it has a low margin of success for what we need to do. We have to break through this diamond and get inside the corvette. The corvette is already badly damaged, so we can't use explosives, not that that would do any good, anyways. Plasma might also damage the corvette, and we don't want to kill our alien contact, now do we?"

Kislee's response made sense to Tarvaa. _No,_ she thought, _we don't._

"Commander, I see only one method of breaking through this barrier with the resources we have," Kislee slowly said, "I can get us through in a few seconds."

Tarvaa didn't like letting the Sarashii use her power. Shadow. The Makuta had tried to use that power to destroy the Matoran Universe – and almost succeeded. But Kislee had proven herself loyal to the UGC time and time again, and they were running out of time, and options…

Tarvaa sighed. "Do it," she said. She stepped back a little bit. Ahra and Forge did the same.

Kislee unsheathed the small rod attached to her armour, and it almost instantly extended into a large Rahkshi staff with circular blades attached to each tip. Kislee's black and red armour became cloaked with thin wisps of smoke. She took a deep breath, lifted the staff above her neurosuit's head, and plunged one blade off the staff right into the diamond block. Black cracks appeared around the staff, and then the cracks spread. Kislee was weaving a web of Shadow deep into the diamond. After a few seconds, the diamond around Kislee's staff began to come away, turning to dust. Shadow was truly a powerful element. When the diamond around the circular blade attachment was gone, a black beam of pulsing energy shot from the staff, and struck the cracked diamond below the hole that Kislee had made.

More diamond eroded to dust. A tunnel to the corvette was forming. Kislee began to groan, as if the force of doing what she was doing was causing her pain. Tarvaa didn't know this, and Kislee kept it to herself, but using her power like this hurt like hell. It was killing her.

Finally, after a roar of energy and dust erupted from the deep crater in the diamond asteroid, Kislee lifted her staff out of the pit, and lowered it to her side. She was panting.

"Good job, Kislee." Tarvaa said, a hint of concern in her voice. "All right Shadow Team, let's move into the belly of the beast."

"Is this a bad time to say that I'm afraid of going into starships encased in giant asteroids?" Ahra's sense of humour could usually lighten a mood. Not this one.

"Eyes." Forge sounded scared. "Cold, hateful eyes."

The four special operatives lightly jumped down the tunnel. In the low gravity, they fell slowly, and the diamond was very thick.

About fifteen seconds passed according to Tarvaa's HUD. To her, it felt like fifty years.

Finally, the team's feet hit the metal hull of the corvette. Luckily, they had tunnelled to what seemed like an airlock. No one was counting on the alien inside to open the door for them.

"Ahra, cut us inside this thing." Tarvaa knew he would enjoy defiling this monster ship.

"Alright, stand back ladies," Ahra powered up his Tahnok shields. "This is gonna get hot!"

The intense heat of the Bohrok's flame powers melted deep gashes through the airlock doors. After mere seconds, a gateway was carved out for them. They jumped through, entered the corvette's artificial gravity field, and Ahra welded the airlock door back on. He didn't make it look pretty.

"This alien had better be a neat freak," he said, "because I really feel like pissing him off!"

Forge hacked the second door of the airlock open, and the corvette's artificial atmosphere filled the airlock.

"Oxygen." Kislee was reading statistics on her neurosuit's HUD. "Temperature is at twenty-five degrees Celsius. Commander, it should be safe for you to breath here."

Ahra chuckled. Bohrok were purely mechanical life forms. They didn't need to breath.

Tarvaa's Kanohi changed shape again, and morphed into the angular ribcage form of her regular Kanohi mask. The Hadigma, Kanohi mask of pocket dimensions.

"Shadow Team, weapons ready," she declared. "You have permission to engage alien life forms, but only if engaged first, am I clear?"

There was a yes, ma'am from the group, and the team headed into the curving halls of the corvette.

The interior of the alien dart was much like the exterior. Dark, metallic surfaces, smooth, designed for fast travel between the passages. The ceilings were quite high, at least eleven feet at the lowest points. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except that there were strange glowing runes on nearly every surface visible. The runes changed colour in a flowing method, so subtle that it was easy to miss a distinct colour change.

"Nice place," Ahra said, "but I think that it could use some creepy faces sticking out of the walls."

Tarvaa didn't get the joke. Sometimes, Ahra had logic that made no sense to anyone else.

"Commander, I've built a schematic for the corvette's interior layout," Kislee reported, "It's surprisingly similar to some plans for later-era Great Being ships."

Tarvaa pondered this for a moment. This alien was the most technologically advanced race since the Great Beings. "Can you map us around this thing?"

"Yes, Commander."

"Take us to the bridge."

They moved to the front of the ship. The halls were simple, easily traversable, and quite linear. The halls and rooms they passed through were all empty. No vehicles, no food, no equipment, and no aliens.

When they reached the bridge, the found that the door was unlocked.

"Strange," said Ahra, "wouldn't they want to prevent us from taking control of the ship?"

Forge and Kislee soon found out why the bridge was open: the controls were impossible to make sense of, and even if they could, how would they get the ship out of the diamond asteroid?

Tarvaa was starting to suspect that whatever was in this ship was setting a trap. But they still had to find the alien, whatever it was. "Alright Kislee, think. Where would an alien that we have no clue about with advanced technology and Psionic powers hide in a ship like this?"

Kislee pondered this for a while. She paced around the room in circles, and examined every possibility. Every piece of the puzzle was critical. Every variable could change the outcome of the equation. Sometimes, Tarvaa thought that Kislee should have been an engineer. The UGC might have ships as advanced as this corvette then.

"Wait," Kislee was coming to a conclusion. "The ship encased itself in diamond when we disabled all its offensive and defensive systems. It only sealed itself in the asteroid when it had no other option. That means that the diamond is some kind of defensive failsafe. My guess is that it's to prevent capture or similar events. But to seal itself inside the ship, the alien must have planned to be in here for a long time…" Kislee examined the schematics for the ship.

"Sarashii are always looking at everything." Ahra commented. "Can't they just learn to relax and take the most direct method? That's what I always do, and I do pretty good for myself."

"Got it, there's what looks like a long-term survival deck on the bottom level of the ship." Kislee clearly sounded excited. "There's some sort of galley, a lot of empty rooms, and… some kind of suspended animation pods. That's where our alien is!"

"Take us there." Tarvaa locked her brain into action mode.

The ship had no elevators, for some reason, so every level of the ship was connected by staircases and ramps. Shadow Team's destination was two levels down and on the opposite end of the ship. The run was linear, short, but tiring, nonetheless.

Ahra paused for a moment, analyzing the architecture of the halls again. "Did you guys notice how narrow the halls are? Clearly designed for close quarters combat. But in the larger rooms, there's more space, and I saw a few observation decks and catwalks. Almost like sniping posts. It's almost like they were built for defensive purposes: pick off the bulk of a boarding party with sniping, then finish off the stragglers face-to-face."

Ahra's statement sounded accurate to Tarvaa, but if it was true, then why had they not been targeted by any snipers? The suspended animation hall seemed to be the only answer: the aliens were waiting for the danger to pass, and then they would re-emerge to reclaim control of the ship.

"Lots of empty halls," Ahra continued, "This ship is kinda small, but it must take a lot of personnel to operate this thing."

The corvette suddenly seemed more and more like a trap to Tarvaa. But she did not let on her suspicions to the team. Why would she? Why fill their minds with more panic, after what they had just been through?

"We're here." Kislee seemed tense. "The survival hall is just down this corridor."

A few feet down, they encountered a locked door. The only locked door they had seen around the whole ship. That meant that whatever was behind it was important, and wanted to stay hidden.

"Forge, open this door." Tarvaa felt no remorse at disregarding the alien's wishes.

It took some time, but John eventually cracked the lock, and the alien door slid open. Behind it was a small room not unlike the others the team had come across. It had a smooth surface, simple, organized features, and colour-shifting runes on what appeared to be mechanical devices. This room seemed to be the galley. There was only one other, narrow door leading out of it, and it was unlocked. Shadow Team advanced.

The next room was completely empty, but was otherwise identical to the previous room. One other door.

The next room was exactly identical to the last, if only a tad darker. There was less light here, and there was a single object that looked like a chair near one of the walls. There was one last door, and it was locked.

"This is it. That door leads to the suspended animation hall." Kislee was quivering with anticipation.

"Hold on," Tarvaa was starting to show her suspicion. "Can you scan for life signs before we break through?"

"Yes, Commander." Kislee thumbed a few buttons on the arm of her neurosuit, and then gazed at the door. She was seeing if there was anything alive on the other side. "No signs of organic life," she reported, "scanning for bionic." More time passed. "Nothing bionic or bio-mechanical. Strange. Let me see if it's mechanical life."

Tarvaa's suspicions of a trap were turning into a gnawing cancer, and her instincts were telling her to run, to get out of there. She pressed those thoughts down, and tried to keep her mind focused. She wasn't doing a very good job.

"This can't be right," Kislee declared with confusion in her voice. "There are no life signs behind that door. Not even an Artificial Intelligence. There's just an empty hall."

"There's got to be something on this ship, it's too complicated to run on an auto-pilot alone!" Ahra was keeping his usual, battle ready tone, but there was a touch of fear in his voice.

Tarvaa was feeling like a cornered Muaka. "Shadow Team, weapons ready. Anything moves, shoot to stun. But be ready for attack."

The group arranged themselves in a circular formation. Tarvaa's Plasma Sword was drawn, and her Plasma Shield was held in front of her. Forge's Lightning powers were charging up, and he was keeping his body in a flexible position. Ahra had his Fire Shields primed, and he was in a Bohrok military battle-stance. Kislee's staff was held in front of her, ready to block any attack that came at her.

The door that the team had come through suddenly shut, and locked itself.

"It's here," Ahra said. "This thing is clever. That was quite a trap."

"Eyes in the dark." Forge was shaking ever so slightly, but his voice was filled with anger, not fear.

Shadow Team tensed. They waited.

"An invisible assailant," Tarvaa commented, "could Psionic powers achieve that, Kislee?"

Kislee's answer was blood-curdling.

When a Sarashii screams through a neurosuit, it's as if the sound penetrates one's soul. Tarvaa, Ahra, and Forge turned to see that Kislee was being held in midair by an invisible force. There were strange, glowing red symbols floating around her neurosuit's head, but none of the group could make out what they were. The face of Kislee's suit was contorted into a look of pure horror, unlike anything even Forge had ever seen. The neurosuit began to convulse, and Kislee's screams were cut off by a malfunctioning vocal amplifier. Finally, the suit fell limp, and Kislee's Rahkshi staff fell to the ground.

Tarvaa had fought against elemental users before. Renegade Toa, Skakdi pirates, Olympian bounty hunters, and Tarvaa knew that Kislee had been the victim of a Psionic mental assault. The assailant had severed the connection between the Sarashii and her neurosuit, and Kislee was probably unconscious inside.

The limp suit moved slightly to the side, and behind it, there was a white flash. A mind barrier had been lifted, and Shadow Team could see their Psionic attacker.

**XXXXXX**

Alien doesn't even begin to describe the being that revealed itself from under a Psionic veil. The thing was bionic, and looked like a mix between a Toa and a dragon, with a roughly humanoid body and limbs, talons on its feet and hands, a reptilian head, and a long tail with a blade-like stinger at the tip. Its body was covered by lightweight black and dark red armour. Its slender head was bare, displaying a pair of horns protruding from behind its eyes and curving along the back of its head, enhancing the dragonlike appearance. Each talonlike hand consisted of three fingers and two thumbs. Comparing them to Human hands, it was like the pinkie finger had been replaced by a second thumb. But the creature's eyes were what horrified the conscious members of Shadow Team the most: ice-cold, white eyes that were filled with rage. Rage and hatred that seemed to seep into the soul and burn the mind.

The being was holding up Kislee's neurosuit using Psionic powers, and after its appearance, it unceremoniously tossed the limp figure aside, slamming it against a wall. The other three members of Shadow Team were ready for battle, when a voice spoke, but didn't speak, in their minds. Like someone had just told them the meaning of what someone else had said.

_Why did you come? Why can't you leave me alone? LEAVE ME IN PEACE!_

Before Shadow Team could react, the dragonlike thing charged them, swatting Forge and Tarvaa aside and tackling Ahra head-on. It pinned him against a wall, and white fire seemed to erupt from the alien's eyes. The being half roared, half screamed at Ahra's face, and the Tahnok could make out organic, fleshy tissue and canine fangs underneath the red exoskeleton.

Tarvaa struck the alien in the head with her shield. With the superheated Plasma combined with the Gravity Core, the blow sent the being flying, and it skidded across the smooth floor. Ahra hastily stood up and readied himself for battle.

The creature tried to get to its feet, but before it had the chance, Forge extended his hand and began electrocuting the thing. For a moment, it seemed stunned, and shrieked in pain. As quickly as it had charged before, it sent up a Psionic barrier, blocking Forge's Lightning attack.

Before the alien could attempt a counterattack, Tarvaa joined in on Forge's assault with a beam of Plasma, and Ahra followed up with two streams of fire. The alien was being cooked for sure. Shadow Team would stop the monster.

But it was not to be.

A Psionic scream was called into existence. The alien was shrieking like a banshee in pain and rage. The psychic sound seared itself through the minds of the UGC operatives, making them lose their focus. The onslaught of power they had been hurling at the single being weakened.

A concussive wave of telekinetic energy hit the three soldiers with the force of a meteor, and they were hurled against the walls of the alien room. A second blast hit them, and they were crushed, the breath knocked out of them. Ahra was unable to move, being held down by an invisible Psionic force. Tarvaa was gasping for air, doubled over in pain, and Forge was at the mercy of the seven-and-a-half-foot-tall alien.

Forge heard the terrible not-voice in his head again: _You think you have seen horrible things? I WILL SHOW YOU TRUE HORROR!_

The being's white eyes erupted with the glowing fire once more, and the inferno seemed to flow towards Forge, and into his eyes. More red, incomprehensive symbols appeared around Forge's head. Some familiar, like enormous fleets of Kh'nid ships and an infected Kanohi Hau. Others were not as familiar. Giant metal hands, planets burning in a biblical inferno, black holes… Forge couldn't take the horror of the mental assault as he fell under a black shadow, unconscious.

The Psionic demon turned its horrifying eyes on Ahra, still pinned by a Psionic force. The alien advanced…

And was thrown across the room by an invisible hammer.

Ahra smiled. Tarvaa's mask of pocket dimensions was useful for any situation.

Through Tarvaa's eyes, the world was very dark, with purple lights marking the surface and outlines of the room. She could almost see through the walls. But the walls no longer had substance. She could have moved through them if she wanted. But she had a quarrel with this foe.

Ahra, shining red as he was pinned against the floor by a flood of blazing white Psionic energy, was saying something. Tarvaa couldn't quite make out what it was while she was in this fringe dimension.

She looked to the demonic alien. So dark, yet so bright in this world. His body barely showed up as a dim shadow flecked with red. But his eyes, his mind… They were like gazing into the universe in all its infinity and beauty…

Beauty and terror that made her want to look away.

She ran at an impossible speed at the creature, shield first. When she met the demon, she thrust at him with her shield, sending him stumbling backwards. Tarvaa followed up with an overhead slash from her sword – and the creature sent a wave of psychic energy at her, stunning her and sending her tumbling backwards.

_How can he know where I am? I'm intangible in this plane._

An answer revealed itself to her. The creature's telepathy appeared as blood red letters floating in front of her. _Time and space are meaningless. The mind is something you cannot hide, and your weakest aspect!_

Another mental assault was launched at her, and its horrors were very real in this plane. Impossible shapes, images, and figures swarmed around her – dark warriors with rusted armour and monstrosities that broke through the fragile barriers of the room. Tarvaa had to escape from it all before she was suffocated.

She made a seamless teleport, and Tarvaa was back in reality, standing behind the demon creature. Without a second thought, she swung her sword and attempted to cut the thing's head off. A flash, a movement out of the corner of her eye, and Tarvaa's blow met an immovable barrier.

The creature was blocking her Plasma sword with its black-armoured gauntlet. Even the superheat of the Plasma had no effect on the alien's armour. Quick as lightning, the demon's long tail swiped at Tarvaa's arm, the stinger-like blade tip grazing her right hand.

Her arm seared with a pain like it had just been thrown into below-freezing water.

Tarvaa screamed in pain and clutched her hand. Other than a tiny scratch, there was no damage, but it was the most painful thing she had experienced. Pain that severe couldn't exist, she knew it couldn't. Then how did she feel it?

Her arm was pulled out of the burning cold water and plunged into the core of a blazing star.

The pain worsened a trillion times. It was impossible and excruciating. Tarvaa collapsed on the ground, releasing her hand. It hurt to touch it. It hurt anyways.

The alien watched her writhe in pain, smiled in absolute glee, and turned its attention back on Ahra.

The creature bent down, put it's bizarre hand on Ahra's large forehead, and the force holding Ahra down disappeared. Ahra jabbed his glowing hot Tahnok shields into the alien's sides. The being released Ahra, doubled over, holding its talon-hands to the burn marks next to its belly. Ahra got up, and prepared himself to finish the monster, but it shot up to the ceiling, lifted by telekinetic powers, and attempted to tackle Ahra from above.

Ahra already had a counterattack.

Just as the alien pushed itself off the ceiling towards Ahra, the Bohrok extended his long mechanical neck, and his heavy, armoured head struck the creature in the chest, sending it hurtling into a wall.

Ahra kept his eyes on the creature, but helped the squirming Tarvaa to her feet.

The creature stood up, and the hatred in its eyes multiplied a thousand times. Even Ahra, who lived for the heat of battle, was frightened by the rage this alien displayed.

Tarvaa used yet another power of her Kanohi mask, and summoned a throwing knife from a storage dimension. Ahra extended his Bohrok shields, and they flared with heat.

The alien smiled, amused. It crossed its arms over its chest, clenched its twisted hands into firsts, and a glowing white foot-long blade extended from the back of its right hand. The alien made a satisfied growl, and poised itself in a low attack stance.

Tarvaa did not hesitate, and threw her knife at the creature. Time seemed to slow down for the thing as the dagger flew at its face. It raised its arm behind its head, and made a downwards backhand strike, its strange blade cutting Tarvaa's knife in two perfectly even halves. The pieces hit the wall behind the alien, and fell harmlessly to the ground. The cut was perfectly clean, with no jagged edges, no radiating heat, and no broken-off fragments. Just two pieces of solid metal that had once been a knife.

The alien snarled with glee, and charged at the two remaining members of Shadow Team. Tarvaa vanished into a fringe dimension, and Ahra held his shields in front of him, releasing two jets of fire at the alien. The force of the Bohrok attack stopped the alien in its tracks, but it didn't seem to be badly hurt.

In the brief time Tarvaa spent in the fringe dimension, she got a look at the alien's wrist-blade from another plane. Green mist that filled the air of the dimension was moving away from it, keeping a healthy distance, as if it was afraid of getting too close to the shimmering blade. When Tarvaa tried to look at the weapon directly, her vision seemed obscured and distorted, like she was looking through warped glass. The Toa didn't have time to process this information, besides the thought that she did _not_ want to be cut by that thing. Ahra couldn't hold back the demon for long.

Tarvaa materialized behind the alien, with an array of shurikens and daggers in her hand. She quickly threw them all at once at the surrounded alien, which proceeded to create another Psionic barrier around itself, stopping both Ahra's fire and Tarvaa's blades. Within the blink of an eye, Ahra stopped generating the streams of intense heat, and instead charged at the alien. The thing jumped over Ahra's head, picked him up with Psionic powers, and threw him right at Tarvaa. The Toa instinctively threw her shield above her head, and Ahra slammed right into the plasma barrier, his fall slowed by the Gravity Core, and crushed Tarvaa against the floor. Tarvaa's shield deactivated, strained too much for its power source to handle.

The alien stepped on top of Ahra's struggling form, and pressed him ever so slightly further into Tarvaa's chest. The weight was suffocating her. The alien launched a devastating mental attack at the stunned Bohrok, and when it was done, threw him right in the middle of the room.

Tarvaa was exhausted, her elemental energies were spent, her team was unconscious, her right arm was killing her, and there was a sadistic alien monster standing above her that was about to fry her brain.

_You came to understand me,_ the telepathic not-voice told her, _and I wanted to be left alone. But if you want to know what I am, then I will show you. Gaze into infinity… EMBRACE THE VOID!_

The alien's white, burning eyes filled Tarvaa's vision, and a series of images flashed before her eyes. Hundreds of thousands of scenes, events, sounds from wars and battles that Tarvaa had no knowledge of. She was glad she didn't. The brief but overpowering onslaught of psychic messages blazed across her mind – scenes of civilizations being slaughtered, shadowy warriors butchering innocent people, warped and twisted starships more devastating than the dart-corvette, screaming souls, dying minds, crumbling cities, burning planets, stars being devoured by monstrous shapes and black holes.

The last two images stayed in Tarvaa's vision longer than the others had. The first of the two was a three-dimensional image of horror that Tarvaa knew was impossible – but it was all too real for her. She didn't want to look, but she couldn't turn away, couldn't close her eyes. She was forced to see into the infinite void between the galaxies, gaze across what she knew as her own galaxy. She had to hear the screaming, pleading, begging of a hundred billion voices echoing across space, and she had to feel the heat of the universe – every galaxy in sight – burn in a hellish red inferno.

The final image that she saw was brief, distorted, and unclear, but there was an unmistakable shape that dominated her vision. A planet, black with soot, still burning, bearing the scarred image of a Kanohi Hau.

Then Tarvaa fell into blackness.

**XXXXXX**

Tarvaa's senses returned to her eventually. She knew that she had been unconscious for quite some time, but not exactly how long. _Twenty minutes?_ she thought, _an hour, ten hours? Maybe fifty lifetimes?_

The Toa's vision was blurry, and there was a strange sound around her. She felt like her head was submerged underwater. Only, she wasn't drowning. She could breathe.

She groggily tried to push herself off the ground. She fell back down, grunting in pain. Her arm was on fire again.

She noticed the alien sitting in the chair across the room from her. It was casually examining something bright in its hand, and it hurt Tarvaa's tired eyes. The beast turned to her, and it looked like its mouth said something, but Tarvaa could only hear the swishing of the water. Her arm hurt a lot. The alien's eyes were terrifyingly bright and clear.

The creature looked impatient, then scoffed at Tarvaa, waved its alien hand, and Tarvaa's senses instantly returned to her. She could feel the pain in her arm more clearly, and she wanted to slip back under the black sheet that had silenced the angry Rahi devouring her arm.

"Ahem," said the alien, sounding annoyed, "I said I'm glad you're awake. You are, as expected, the first member of Shadow Team to recover from our first meeting. Although I must admit, Commander Tarvaa, that you are a few minutes ahead of schedule."

What was this thing talking about? Tarvaa didn't care. She just wondered how the alien knew her name, her team's name, and if the agony roaring in her right arm would ever stop.

"I'm sorry for the bad dreams, both earlier today and just now," the demon continued. "I also apologize for the bad headache you're going to get, but learning the many languages of the UGC, not to mention some personal information, requires an occupied subject, and takes a lot of effort. You're surprisingly strong-willed, Commander."

Tarvaa hated the alien. She was afraid of his eyes. What she had seen in his mind scared the hell out of her. And her arm was killing her.

"Now that you're awake, there are some things I must tell you. I expect you to tell them to Forge, Ahra and Kislee as well. My name is Derreth. I am a Drath Inquisitor, and my ship is called the _Hydra's Comet_. As you already know, I possess powerful Psionic abilities. I have used these abilities to extract almost all the information that you are in possession of regarding the current state of the galaxy. Oh, and I am taking Shadow Team as hostages and using you to bargain with the High Council of the UGC. Are we clear?"

Tarvaa was clear. The pain in her arm was a solid blade of fire taking its sweet time as it carved its way across her mind.

"Now Tarvaa, before the others wake up, I suggest you let that horror out now. After all, we wouldn't want to demoralize the team too much, now would we?"

Tarvaa hated this alien, this Derreth. He was absolutely sadistic, and he knew her every thought and fear. And he knew that her arm was tearing her apart.

Tarvaa did the only thing she was capable of doing then. She doubled over on the floor, hugged her knees, and began to cry.

And Derreth watched and smiled.

* * *

><p><em>AN_

_Due to a lack of reviews, serious writer's block in writing Part Two of Beyond the End, and several other reasons, I am cancelling this story arc. I apologize to my few readers who were enjoying this story, but I find that despite how original this work is (by which I mean how much it breaks off from Bionicle canon), I find this FanFic to be self-limiting. I want to broaden my horizons. So, I will begin work on what Beyond the End was really all about to me: a start to what I hope to be an original work._

_As of now, I am beginning plans for an original story based on Beyond the End, which in itself was my own work. I will begin with some simple experiments. I might do a few short crossovers between my developing sci-fi world and others such as Firefly/Serenity and Doctor Who. I may or may not publish such experiments on this website. But no matter what, my own original work will be my main writing project, and this Bionicle Fan Fiction trilogy is now dead in my eyes._

_Please keep an eye open for my future works on this site. While Beyond the End is dead in the water, I have my original experimentation to look forward to, as well as a possible Fan Fic based on the film 9 that I've been playing with in my head._

_To those of you who read and enjoyed my work, please keep an eye on my list of published stories, because I really want feedback on my work when I start playing with my original ideas. Until then, this is Locust Boy saying: I'll see you under the Ether Star._


End file.
